Win Condition: The first Team to destroy the opposing team’s Ancient or a team chooses to concede the game.

Tournament Format: The 1st and 2nd Game Evolution Tournament Qualifiers will be played as single elimination brackets( best of one (1) game) until the Winner is declared. These two (2) tournaments will be played on separate dates and in separate locations (TBA). The Winner of each qualifier will be invited to the Game Evolution International Tournament. Additionally, one (1) single elimination bracket tournament qualifier will be held in each GCC country, at which point they will be combined with the (2) invited Teams into an eight (8) Team Game Evolution International Tournament Playoffs. The Playoff bracket will be single elimination (best of three (3) games) down to the final four (4) Teams. These four (4) teams will compete in the Game Evolution International Tournament Semi-finals which will continue as single elimination (best of three (3) games) down to the final two (2) Teams. The remaining two (2) Teams will advance to the Game Evolution International Championship which will be played on the main stage; these two (2) Teams will compete to win the best of five (5) games until a Winner can be declared.

Series Length: In a best of three (3) game formats, the first Team to win two (2) games wins the match. In the event of a 1-1 game tie, a third game will be played. In a best of five (5) game formats, the first Player to win three (3) games wins the match. In the event of a 2-3 game tie, a fifth game will be played.

Seeding: In the Tournament Qualifiers, Teams will be seeded randomly. In the Group Stage, Team will be seeded based on qualifying position. In the Playoff Bracket, the four (4) Teams will be seeded 1 through 4 based on past tournament performances. In the Championship Bracket, the Teams will be seeded 1 and 2 based on past tournament performances.

Match Scheduling: All matches schedules are available on the website, listed by the tournament bracket. If a Team needs to reschedule, they must contact their opponent and confirm a new match time. If both Teams agree to reschedule the match within 48 hours of the original match time, both Teams must alert the Tournament Administrator and have the reschedule approved.

Game Settings

Each team member has to have a clan tag as part of his steam name during all matches. Stand-ins must not do the same and instead wear a “Stand-in”-Tag, so members and stand-ins can be distinguished easily. What counts as a clan tag is for the administration to decide.

Each team member and stand-in has to have his primary or secondary nickname or something very similar as part of his steam name during all matches to be easily identifiable for referees, broadcasters, and viewers. What counts as similar is for the administration to decide. The primary and secondary nicknames can be found in the player’s profile.

Setup and Configuration

Non-standard game settings or third party applications that affect game play are not permitted. Players found using either will be penalized at the Tournament Administrator’s sole discretion, which may include Player suspension(s) or forfeiture of the match or round penalties.

Use of Ventrilo, Mumble, Team Speak, or any third party voice chat software is allowed.

In-Game Messaging and Communication

Competing Teams are not allowed to use global in-game chat in an abusive, offensive, vulgar or spamming manner at any point during a match. This includes pre-match, intermission and post-match periods as well.

When a match is live, only Team captains are allowed to use global in-game messages (this included between rounds or at half time); other Players must use team-only in-game messages

Violators of these rules are subject to penalties at the Tournament Administrator’s discretion, which may include Player suspension(s) or forfeiture of the match or round penalties.

Disconnections

Game Crashes / Unintentional Disconnection – In the event of any connection loss of one Player due to game client, system, network, PC, and/or power problems/issues, Game play will be paused by the Team captain during the freeze time of the NEXT round until the client can reconnect OR 5 minutes passes, whichever comes first.

Game Leaving / Intentional Disconnection – In the event of any connection loss of one Player due to a Player’s actions, a penalty may be assessed to that Player’s Team in the sole discretion of the Tournament Administrator. Penalties may include the offending Team being required to continue play without the offending Player, receiving round penalties, or forfeiting the match.

Server Crashes – In the event of a permanent connection loss of one or multiple Players due to an issue with a server, Tournament Administrator will restart the game server, stop the tournament clock, and play will continue from the point of disruption. Points will be added to the amounts totaled before the crash, and the tournament clock will be restarted once the game is live again.

Unfair Play

The following actions will be considered unfair play:

The use of any cheat program and/or map hack program;

An intentional disconnection;

The use of any settings exceeding the standard and permitted settings;

Any “unnecessary chatting” during the match. “Unnecessary chatting” does not include any of the following: greeting messages between the Players; a signal for the loss (i.e.: „gg?, „GG?, or any other message that the referee can use to decide the winner); or any message that the Tournament Administrator can judge as part of the game;

Any intentional abuse of “pause” by a Player on the server;

Clearly allowing one’s opponent to win a match;

Any external conditions (Press, Team Leader, Player, Spectator, etc) that give an unfair advantage to a Player and/or Team;

Any intentional abuse of “pause” by a Player as determined by the Tournament Administrator;

The use of a program bug that is determined by the Tournament Administrator as being unfair.

Upon discovery of any Player and/or Team committing any violations regarded as unfair play, the offending Team, at the sole discretion of the Tournament Administrator, may receive a warning, round penalty, a forfeit loss or be disqualified from the Tournament.

During the course of the event, the Tournament Administrator may determine other actions to embody unfair play.

Forfeits, Disputes, and Support

If your opponent does not show up within a 15 minute grace period after the original scheduled match time, you may report a forfeit win.

If you have wrongly been awarded a forfeit loss, you may challenge it within 2 hours of the originally scheduled match time, after which time your dispute will be discarded.

If no match has been reported within 2 hours of the scheduled match time and no support tickets have been opened, the higher seeded Team as listed on the tournament bracket will be advanced by default.

Any disconnection issues that cannot be resolved by the Team captains in the match must be brought to the attention of the Tournament Administrator immediately.

Once the match starts, Teams will not be able to dispute a match on the grounds of match settings.

All match disputes must be filed within 10 minutes after the match’s conclusion, and must include replays and screenshots if applicable.

The Tournament Administrator may be contacted by filing a support ticket on the support page.

In the event of a cheating dispute, the Tournament Administrator will contact both Teams and ask for any information regarding to the match in question up to and including match replays. The Tournament Administrator will make a ruling based on the rules outlined in this document. Cheating will result in a penalty at the Tournament Administrator’s discretion up to and including immediate removal from the Tournament.

Rule Changes

The Tournament Administrators reserves the right to modify the rules as needed. This includes changes due to software updates or releases, event organizer decisions and all other changes deemed necessary to run a successful tournament. Players are responsible for checking the rules on a regular basis and prior to the event in order to ensure they are in complete compliance.

Players must understand that rules listed are guidelines to ensure fair and competitive play and are subject to interpretation by the administrators based on the spirit of the game.